Wish Upon a Star
by Akio the Dragon Master
Summary: We all know that Ryou has a hard time making friends, let alone keep them. And although Yugi and the gang consider Ryou a friend, things are still a little tense between them. So what happens when Ryou finds someone he can actually call a friend? Read to
1. Default Chapter

Ryou sat by his window, staring into the sunset. He felt alone in the world. Well, not quite alone. He still had his yami, Bakura. Sort of. Tonight, Bakura was hanging out with his friends, Marik and Malik. …He had been doing that a lot lately.

Ryou sighed. He didn't have many friends…. Just Yugi and the gang. But he couldn't help but feel like an outsider with them. All of them were so happy and care free. They never had a problem talking with each other, always making jokes and laughing. Ryou however, would sit there, and laugh nervously when a joke was made, but other than that he didn't speak. He wanted to say something witty, something to make the others laugh, or something cool, or maybe something deep…. Something that would put all of them in awe. He couldn't. He could never think of anything to say until it was too late.

Ryou watched the sky slowly darken, and he saw the first star of the night. He smiled sadly as he remembered what his mother would tell him every night… Well, every night before she died.

She would say, "Look, Ryou… It's the first star of the night."

"I see, Mommy." he'd answer.

"And do you know what's so special about it?"

"No…"

She would smile warmly, hugging him close. "That star is a wishing star. You can make any wish on it, and it will come true!"

"Really?" he'd ask excitedly.

"Yes. Now Ryou, think of a wish."

Ryou would close his eyes and think hard about what he'd want to wish for.

"Do you have one yet?"

Ryou would look up into her kind eyes and smile brightly. "Yes!"

"Good. Now, cup your hands like this," she'd cup her hands to show him, "and whisper it into your hands." She'd close her eyes and whisper into her hands, and Ryou would do the same.

"Done?"

"Yes."

"Now release it! Thrust towards the star!" Ryou's mother would thrust her hands towards the star. And then Ryou would.

"What did you wish for, Mommy?"

His mother would smile and wink, and raised a finger to her lips. "If I tell you, my wish won't come true."

"Oh…"

Then she'd kiss his head, lay him in his bed and tuck him in. "Goodnight, my angel."

"G'night, Mommy." Ryou would say, yawning. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Ryou found tears streaming down his face as he remembered this. Maybe… Just maybe… If he wished on this star… He could finally have a friend to talk to, someone to hangout with, someone who understood him. Someone… Anyone…

Ryou cupped his hands and whispered his wish. "I wish… I wish I could have a friend…" he murmured. He thrust his hands towards the star, sending his wish to it.

Then, Ryou smiled slightly, feeling foolish. 'Wishing on a star? Is this what I have been reduced to? Ah, well, I suppose it was worth a try, even it was in vain.'

The white haired boy stood up and stretched. 'I should probably get ready for bed.' And with that last thought, he changed out of his clothes and changed into a pair of blue plaid pajama pants and a white t-shirt. He went to his bathroom, brushed his teeth, and went and climbed into his bed, pulling his denim comforter over his thin body, and fell asleep……

Ryou was walking down a row of desks, desperately trying to find his. Suddenly, he tripped and all the books and school supplies he was carrying spilled all over the floor. Quickly, he started to pick up his stuff. Then someone handed him one of his spiral notebooks.

"Thank you." he said, and then he started to look up, to see who it was who was helping him. And he saw-

"SAVE A HORSE, RIDE A COWBOY!"

Ryou woke with a start, slamming his hand on his radio/alarm clock. 'Stupid alarm clock…' Ryou rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and pulled the covers off of him, and then crawled out of his bed. He quickly hopped into the shower, washed, jumped out of the shower, grabbed a towel, and put his school uniform on.

He ran to the staircase, slid down the banister (yes, Ryou slid down the banister… Weird huh?), and went into the kitchen.

There he saw his yami, head on the table asleep. A steady flow of drool was coming out of his mouth. Ryou didn't know whether to be disgusted or amused.

"Hey… Bakura… Wake up…" Ryou poked the sleeping yami on his shoulder.

"Huh? Wha…?" Bakura sat up and wiped the drool from his mouth. "What time is it?" he asked groggily.

Ryou checked his watch. "Six o'clock. We need to catch the bus in thirty minutes."

Bakura swore loudly and rushed upstairs to get ready for school.

Ryou sighed and shook his head. He headed towards the pantry and pulled out a box of Cheerios and made himself a bowl for breakfast.

"C'MON BAKURA! THE BUS WILL BE HERE ANY MINUTE!" Ryou shouted up the stairs.

"HOLD ON! I CAN'T FIND MY BELT!" Bakura yelled back.

"GO GET ONE OF MINE!"

"I DON'T WANT ONE OF YOURS!"

Ryou sighed angrily. Living with Bakura was like living with a homicidal three year old.

"AHA!" Ryou heard Bakura cry triumphantly. "FOUND IT!"

"GREAT! NOW COME DOWN HERE! I THINK THE BUS IS COMING!"

He saw his yami run down the stairs, putting his belt on. Bakura quickly grabbed his backpack from the stair a case.

Ryou was about to walk out the door, when Bakura shoved him out of the way, getting out first. Ryou shot his yami an angry glare, but didn't say anything. The Brit dusted his pants off and walked out the door like a normal human being, and locked the door behind him.

Ryou got on the bus and looked in vain for an empty seat. He looked up and down the rows and saw Seto Kaiba sitting on one of them. He did a double take and wondered why Kaiba was riding the bus when he had a limo to take him to school. Why did Kaiba even GO to school? He was definitely smart enough to already have a college degree…

Ryou shook his head and walked up to the seat Kaiba was sitting in. "Can I sit with you?" He asked politely.

Kaiba didn't say anything; he just shifted his stuff into his lap to make room for Ryou.

Ryou sat down warily. Kaiba seemed… Mad… Best not to say anything…

Ryou leaned back and closed his eyes, and started thinking. 'Maybe I should ask him why he's riding the bus instead of his limo….?'

"I bet you're curious as to why I'm riding this hunk of junk when I could be riding in my limo," Kaiba asked out of nowhere.

"Um… Yeah... A little…" Ryou answered timidly. '…Can Kaiba read minds?!'

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at Ryou's tone, but didn't remark on it. "It broke down early this morning. We didn't have time to fix it."

"I see…"

"Hn." And Kaiba turned around and looked out the window.

Ryou looked at Kaiba for a second and then looked at his lap. 'That was the longest conversation I've ever had with Kaiba. Kinda sad actually. Ah, well, time for sleep!' (A:NMy first thoughts when I get on the bus in the morning…and the afternoon…: TIME TO GO BACK TO SLEEP!!)

When the bus arrived at Domino High, Kaiba noticed Ryou was sleeping. Annoyed that he had to stay on the bus 5.3 seconds longer than he wanted to, he poked Ryou in the shoulder, trying to get the boy to wake up. "Wake up!" he hissed. "We're here!"

"Huh… Wha..?" Ryou asked groggily.

"I said, we're here."

"Oh. Right." Ryou picked his stuff up and got off the bus, with Kaiba right behind him.

I'm going to say this right now. This will NOT be yaoi, shounen-ai, or anything like that. Also, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or Big & Rich's song, "Save a horse, Ride a Cowboy". But it's a very good song, even though I don't own it. Please review!! Ah, yes, one more thing… Callie1075 beta read this and caught my stupid mistakes! Thanks! Ok, please review!


	2. School

"Ok, class, I trust everyone is done reading _Animal Farm_?" Mrs. Domino, Ryou's language teacher, asked the class. Ryou sighed, knowing what was going to come next. "Well, if you haven't, you're in big trouble because we're going to do a project on the book!" Mrs. Domino exclaimed happily as the class groaned. "Now, for this project you'll need partners and-" she was cut off by the class calling to their friends, claiming them as their partners.

"C'mon, Yug! Whaddya say?" Joey called.

"Sure, Joey!"

So on, so forth.

Mrs. Domino cleared her throat and held up a hand to silence them. "No, you're not going to pick you partners. _I'm_ going to pick them. So, we have… Tristan and Duke… Joey and Tea… Yugi and Elizabeth, Betty and Joe… Ryou and Seto…"

Ryou shot a glance at Kaiba, noticing that Kaiba was looking at him. Ryou smiled timidly, only to receive an icy glare from the CEO. Ryou gulped and turned around to face the teacher, who was almost done with her list of partners.

"- and Brittany and Lawrence. Ok, I believe that's everyone. Now, you and your partner are going to choose a character from the book and write a report on who this character symbolizes. For extra credit, you can make a model of the character. Any questions? No? Good. Go get with your partner and start to plan. And most importantly, have fun!" and with that last statement, Mrs. Domino started cackling evilly.

Hesitantly, Ryou walked over to Kaiba's desk. "So…" he started. "Do you have any ideas?"

"This project is so stupid and pointless."

"Yes…" 'But that didn't exactly answer my question.' "But do you have any ideas? I have a one…"

"Ok, then let's hear it."

"Well, we could do a report on Boxer, right?" Kaiba nodded. "And we could right about how he represents the working class citizens. It's simple enough."

"Yeah… And the extra credit?"

"Umm… Arts and crafts really aren't my specialty."

"I see. Well, the model will require a lot of Styrofoam, yarn, paint, and sticks."

"Can we use googely eyes!?" Ryou asked, excited.

"...Sure…"

"Yay!"

"Don't ever do that again."

"Sorry, Kaiba."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Where do you want to meet to work on the project?"

"Um… We could work on it at my house."

"Does Bakura still live with you?"

"Yes."

"We're going to my house."

"Oh. Ok."

"Meet me by the flag pole after school, and then we'll go to my house."

"Ok."

After school, Ryou raced down to the flag pole to meet the CEO. He had told Bakura at lunch that he was going over to Kaiba's house.

_"Don't forget to steal something cool as a souvenir!"_

Typical Bakura. Always thinking about stealing. 'Hmm… Now where's Kaiba?'

"Ready to go?"

Ryou nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the icy tone of the CEO behind him. Ryou quickly recovered and turned around, flashing Kaiba a bright smile. "Yes."

"Good. Let's go." With that, Kaiba led Ryou to his limo.

'I thought his limo broke down…?'

"Good thing they fixed my limo. I don't know if I could take another ride on that horrid contraption known as a bus."

'Sheesh… Kaiba CAN read minds…' Thought Ryou,

Akio- nods wisely Yes, yes he can. I know this chapter is shorter than the other one, but it just seemed like a good stopping point. Well, please review!


	3. Limo

Ryou, who had never been in a limo before, was quite excited. "Oh! What does that button do?"

"That button makes the window between us and the driver go down." Kaiba said, exasperated. This was probably the hundredth question Ryou asked in the past five minutes.

"Ooooooo! Cool!" Kaiba was rather shocked at Ryou's behavior. He had always thought Ryou was a quiet, reserved person. But here Ryou was, acting like he was a five year old who had just drank a bottle of Mountain Dew.

"I didn't realize you were so… hyper." Kaiba stated.

"Oh, Bakura was conducting an experiment at lunch. He wanted to see what would happen if he gave me a bottle of Mountain Dew that had twenty of those little packages of sugar in it." Ryou replied.

Kaiba's eyes practically popped out of his head. "And you _drank_ it?"

"Well, I like Mountain Dew. Besides, Bakura didn't tell me he put all that sugar in it."

"I see…"

"Yeah… OOOOOO! What does that button do?"

The CEO groaned as he put his head in his hands. This was going to be a _long _afternoon.

When the guys finally reached Kaiba's house, the young CEO was twitching violently.

The limo stopped and the driver stepped out of the car to open Ryou's door. "Kaiba Manor, sirs."

Ryou's mouth hung agape. "_This _is your house?"

"Mm? Yeah. It's nothing special."

"ARE YOU CRAZY! THIS PLACE IS HUGE!"

"Yeah, well, I try not to brag." Ryou found this statement rather odd. Kaiba always bragged about stuff; especially about his dueling skills. "Well, are we going in or are we going to waste the afternoon staring at my house?"

Ryou turned bright red and let Kaiba lead him into the house.

"Mokuba! I'm home!"  
"Big brother!" Mokuba cried happily when he saw his brother. He ran up to his big brother and hugged him.

Kaiba flashed Mokuba a smile that was specially reserved for his younger brother. "How was your day?"

"I got a hundred on my math test." Mokuba stated proudly. "And if you sign it, I get an extra ten points on it."

" Ok, well, put it on my desk and I'll sign it later. Oh yeah, Ryou is here." He said, nodding at the white haired boy, who waved. "We're working on a project for school , so keep it quiet, alright?"

"Ok. I'm going to go finish my homework now."

"You do that."

"Bye Ryou!"

"Bye Mokuba." Ryou responded. Once Mokuba left, he smiled sadly as the thought of his younger sister suddenly popped into his mind. Ryou quickly composed himself so Kaiba wouldn't see his expression. "So, where are we going to work?"

"Mm… My office will work. The computer's up there."

Ryou nodded in agreement. "Ok. Lead the way!"

Akio- Hm… Not quite a page. Sorry guys! I think I'm going to have to read this book again so I know what to do. (grimaces) Hopefully it won't come to that. Oh yeah! Thanks for all the reviews guys! I'm sorry it took so long to update! Please review!


	4. Project

Akio- Hello! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. -;; Thanks for the reviews! Oh yes, there are a few questions I need to answer.

Leona Saclat: In answer to your question about _Animal Farm,_ I chose that book because we had just finished reading that book in my English class when I wrote that chapter. I wanted to do a book that people were likely to read in high school, without doing _The Odyssey _or _Romeo and Juliet _or something along those lines. It's depressing, I agree, and I would have rather done a different book like, oh say, _Artemis Fowl _or _Harry Potter,_ but it's more likely they'd read _Animal Farm_.

In response to your second question about how they have acquired separate bodies: Shadow Magic.

Disclaimer: I do not own YGO. Oh yeah, I don't own Mountain Dew (I forgot to put that in the last chapter…I forgot to put a DISCLAIMER in the last chapter..) and I don't own _Animal Farm _(if that isn't obvious…).

Ryou stared in awe as he entered Kaiba's office. There were couches and a big screen TV and a radio and a laptop and a hand waving in front of his face…

"Earth to Ryou! Earth to Ryou!" Kaiba said, waving his hand in front of his English partner's face.

Ryou snapped back into reality. "Oh, sorry." Ryou said, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, well, we need to get started.  
"Right. What do you want me to do?"

Kaiba walked over to a closet that was in his office and opened it, revealing arts and crafts supplies. "Err, Kaiba? Why do you have arts supplies?" Ryou asked timidly.

"Mokuba had to do a project a few weeks ago and he insisted on doing it in here with me."

'How cute!' Ryou thought.

"I guess it was cute in some ways, but it's kind of hard to concentrate when someone's slicing up Styrofoam in the same room as you."

Ryou's mouth hung agape. Kaiba did it again!

Kaiba gave Ryou a questioning glance. "What' s wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" Ryou replied quickly.

Kaiba raised a questioning eyebrow, but let the subject drop. "Ok, you make 'Boxer' and I'll do the research and type up the paper."

"…Are you sure you don't want me to help with the paper?"

"Quite."

"Oh, ok." Ryou gathered up some of the supplied that he needed to make a replica of the beloved horse, Boxer. Ryou eyed the supplies wearily. 'How exactly am I supposed to do this? Hmm…' He examined the different shapes of Styrofoam he could work with. One was shaped like an egg. 'That'll make a good head…' He also had some cylinder shaped pieces, a couple of spherical pieces, and a couple of rectangular prisms. "Now if only I could figure out how to put them together." Ryou murmured.

Kaiba glanced up from his computer. "Did you say something?"

"Oh, no, I was just talking to myself."

"…Ah."

"It's not weird or anything!"

"Yes it is!"

"It is not! It's just thinking out loud!" Ryou protested.

"It's weird!"

"You're weird!"

"Nuh uh! You are!"

Ryou gaped at Kaiba. "Did you just say 'nuh uh'!"

Kaiba growled quietly and quickly went back to work.

"There's nothing wrong with saying that, Kaiba," Ryou insisted. "It was just surprising."

Kaiba looked down. "Yeah, well… We all have our stupid moments. …Some just last longer than others. Take Joey Wheeler for example."

Ryou smiled; Kaiba was trying to be funny! …Of course, he might have meant it… "Yeah, he does act kind of stupid sometimes, doesn't he?"

"_Sometimes_? Try _all the time_! Yesterday that stupid mutt was trying to copy off my test paper!"

"…You sit three seats behind him though, don't you?"

"My point exactly."

Ryou laughed. "I remember this one time we-that is, Yugi, the guys, and I-went to go get ice cream. Joey couldn't decide what kind he wanted, so he just got them all. And all on one cone none the less! Wow, it was like, a five foot ice cream cone. Naturally, he tripped and ice cream was all over the place. …We're kinda not allowed to go there anymore…."

Kaiba chuckled at this. "I remember at the Battle City finals when we were picking doors so we could figure out who was dueling who, Joey couldn't decide which door to go through, so he used the potato song to pick a door. I tell you, that Wheeler is nuts."

"Yeah, a few cards short of a deck., that one."

Kaiba laughed. "You know, Ryou? You're all right."

Ryou smiled. "You too, Kaiba."

"Seto."

"Pardon?"

"I said 'Seto'. As in, you can call me Seto."

Ryou looked surprised, but his surprised quickly vanished and he smile brightly. "Ok, Seto."

Akio- Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I'll try to update the next chapter sooner. Well, please review!


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